Notes on the AtrocitiesLike a 100-watt radio station, broadcasting to the dozens...

Wednesday, February 05, 2003

So the Secretary of State made the argument today. How'd he do? Let me guess--those who were in favor of the war were wholly convinced, but those who were skeptical remained skeptical.

But then, as a friend of mine pointed out this morning, whether he's got WMD or not misses the more crucial question: what's the best way to deal with him? The Bush administration has successfully (again) set the terms of the debate: whether he has WMD or not will be the question on which we base our decision to go to war. As my friend said, the White House is asking us what color we want our new car to be, and we haven't even asked the question about whether we need a new car.

Well, do we? I have yet to hear a decent answer to that question. I can still see a number of reasons why it's an enormously unwise course--especially if Iraq has WMD. The colors may be purty, but the war and its aftermath aren't gonna be.